Frederick Delius was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, to German parents, in 1862. He grew oranges in Florida, taught piano in Virginia before studying at the Conservatoire in Leipzig. He later lived in Germany and Norway. He wrote seven operas, large orchestral works, varied pieces of chamber music, songs and works for chorus and orchestra. Influenced by symbolism and impressionism at the turn of the century his sound language is marked, above all, by its complex orchestral textures, its broadly varied, late romantic sound world and the use of chromatic scales.

Opera Finale 2014 hopes to help audiences in Frankfurt discover this multi-facetted English composer, who, spent the last years of his life, crippled and blind, in France, where he died.

His A Village Romeo and Juliet is the last new production of 2013/14 and so, as in recent seasons, the starting point for this year's Opera Finale. We will try to shed light on the composer's life and works through a series of events, chamber music concerts, readings and talks, to find out more about this rarely performed composer.

If you understand German then please look at the German side of this website as there are some other events that you might like to attend.